Kaleidoscope
by Rumour of an Alchemist
Summary: Alternate Universe. One-shot. It's Hallowe'en, 1981, and aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom are on duty, 'minding' a particular Ministry of Magic employee. Rated 'M'. Mention of characters being injured.


Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following one-shot is set in an alternate universe where events are assumed to have started to significantly diverge from canon during the summer of 1976 (after the OWL exams of Severus Snape's year). The piece is from the point of view of this universe's Frank Longbottom. For the record, Severus Snape is assumed, as in canon, to have broken up with Lily following the 'mudbloods like her' comment, the significant point of divergence having occurred after that.

The piece opens in a 'secure' Ministry of Magic location (probably somewhere in the depths of the Ministry itself) on Hallowe'en, 1981...

This piece is rated 'M'. This piece features reference of serious injury to canon characters (and indication that one specific character death has taken place in recent months, 'off screen').

* * *

It was the night of Hallowe'en, 1981, and aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom were taking their turn tonight in guarding one of the Ministry of Magic's most valuable employees – a young wizard, several years their junior, by the name of 'Severus Snape'. Alice joked that Frank and she got handed it so often right now because someone in the Ministry hierarchy thought of it as a form of 'babysitting', for which the Longbottoms ought to be perfectly suited having become first-time parents last summer. Alice also joked that Frank's mother seemed to be seeing more of Frank and Alice's son – Neville – than they did right now, so much time did the two Longbottom aurors spend away from home 'minding' Mr. Snape.

At present, Neville seemed to be going through a 'clingy' phase, clutching onto his mother for dear life whenever he got the chance, as if he were afraid that the next time she walked out of the door and left him behind that he would lose her forever. In the security of the Longbottom family home, Frank joked that Mr. Snape was much less trouble on that count – although obviously nowhere near as handsome as young Neville. 'At work', of course, neither Frank nor Alice joked about one's fellow employees or charges, since that was unprofessional in an auror.

Mr. Snape certainly wasn't much to look at – a tall wizard with black hair, dark eyes, a generally dishevelled look, and (apart from when duelling or demonstrating a new spell) an expression that frequently bordered on contempt for almost everything and everyone around him on his face. He clearly respected and treated as equals any aurors assigned to 'mind' him though – Frank would give him that – and he was appropriately respectful too to his employer, Barty Crouch (senior), the Head of Magical Law Enforcement.

Mr. Snape seemed to have little social life at all (which admittedly made guarding him easier, lacking as he did much desire to go out and about in 'public places'). There were rumours that he'd had some sort of bust up with a girlfriend (or near-girlfriend) at school, ever after which he had behaved as if his heart had been replaced with the old-fashioned metaphorical lump of ice. He didn't seem to have any (non-romantic) friends that he acknowledged either; maybe the fact that he had been in Slytherin house at Hogwarts, and that many of those whom he'd had alongside him in his year-group were suspected Death Eater recruits or sympathisers had something to do with that. The son of the Head of Magical Law Enforcement was about the closest thing that Mr. Snape had to any 'known associates' – unless one counted his Ministry co-workers and various 'minders.

And Mr. Snape's immediate family were impoverished social nobodies – a mother descended from an old family, but who had been cut-off and disowned for wedding a practically penniless utterly irrelevant muggle of little ability or prospects. Normally, his chances of getting 'anywhere' in life would have been severely limited.

Whatever his social life and origins, Mr. Snape was, however, some sort of spell creating genius. Barty Crouch senior's son, Barty Crouch (junior), had apparently noticed him at Hogwarts, and mentioned him to his father, and Barty Crouch senior had approached Mr. Snape with a job offer reputedly right at the start of Mr. Snape's sixth year at Hogwarts. Whether there had actually been a recruitment discussion at that time or not, it _was_ certain that the moment at the other end of two further school years that Mr. Snape had finished sitting his NEWTs, Magical Law Enforcement had snatched him practically straight out of school – they hadn't even waited for the end of the school year and the Express ride, instead escorting him in strength from the school premises. Since then, Mr. Snape had spent most of his time secluded in the depths of one Ministry-held location or another, serving the forces of the Ministry as a figurative, if not literal, 'armourer'. Month after month, Mr. Snape churned out spells, or made modifications (usually for faster casting) to existing ones, for use by aurors, hit-wizards, and others in Ministry employ. Some of them were not _nice_ spells, but they were without question always _effective_ – which was what mattered in the ongoing 'war to the knife' combat with the Death Eaters and their master. The tide of the Wizarding War had started to waver the Ministry's way several years ago, with the defeat of Voldemort's giant allies, and Barty Crouch senior authorising the use by the most trusted Ministry employees of Unforgivable Curses against Death Eaters – that had actually happened 'Before Snape'. However, within six months of Mr. Snape's arrival out of Hogwarts into the depths of the Ministry, a distinct sea change in the ebb and flow of the war was becoming apparent, going only in the Ministry's favour, and now, several years on, the tide was unquestionably and rapidly running out from underneath the Death Eater cause. Auror briefing sessions were slowly getting a little less tense; Alastor Moody – Frank and Alice's immediate boss/supervisor – was getting slightly more jovial sounding when he barked his catchphrase, 'Constant Vigilance!', at the Longbottoms; the _total_ number of Death Eater attacks was falling (even if one particular group was getting ever more of their attention) and the number of Death Eaters captured and imprisoned in Azkaban was rising. From where Frank and Alice were, it looked like life was getting more and more difficult for those who wanted to be a Death Eater, and rank-and-file Death Eaters (as opposed to the more senior ranked fanatics) were breaking when captured and interrogated much faster, as their morale and belief in the success of their cause drained away.

Well: in most parts of the war, the Death Eater cause was failing. Albus Dumbledore and his band of volunteers, 'The Order of the Phoenix', insisted on a 'no Snape spells' policy, with the exception of a couple of what they regarded as the least-objectionable shields, despite the Ministry offering to share (most) of Mr. Snape's output with The Order. The Order were suffering for that; shortly after the start of the war, Lord Voldemort had reportedly given instructions that Albus Dumbledore's handpicked fighters and agents were to be targeted above all others, on account of some long-standing grudge that the dark wizard had held against Albus Dumbledore. Once the Ministry had started to introduce 'Snape Specials', Order of the Phoenix members had by comparison been increasingly seen as 'soft' and thus (according to the testimony of recently captured lower-tier Death Eaters) were viewed as even more 'preferential' targets for Death Eater attacks, ambushes, and other actions. The Order of the Phoenix had taken casualties to the point where Sirius Black was now one of their most experienced 'front liners' and Albus Dumbledore was scrounging idealistic eighteen year olds practically straight out of school to toss into the battle line in his part of the war. Frank and Alice had been part of the Order for a time, before parting company with them after a particularly vehement argument with James and Lily Potter (whose dislike of 'Snape Specials' had seemed almost irrationally _personal_ ) on the subject of the selection of spells for use against enemies. Frank and Alice were still on speaking terms with Lily (and had been with James, up until his demise in August, earlier this year), but they simply hadn't been able to bring themselves to continue to fight alongside people that they couldn't count on to 'have their backs' in a scrap with a dozen of Voldemort's nastiest and dirtiest fighters. And Frank and Alice had actually been the two Ministry employees who had clung on in the Order the longest – others, such as Alastor Moody, who had had a long argument with Albus Dumbledore about 'what was practical being, within certain moral limits, what was right' had bailed on the Order months before Frank and Alice's exit.

These days, the Order's main contact and liaison with the Ministry was carried out via Order member Peter Pettigrew, who spent as much time hanging around the Ministry (and surreptitiously picking up 'Snape Specials', to which at least he seemed to have no moral objections) as possible, and only occasionally heading off to Order meetings to presumably pass on some message or other, or to report on some new development.

The Order's aversion to 'Snape Specials' mystified Frank. It wasn't as if 'Snape Specials' were particularly 'bad' in the demands that they made on their caster. They weren't like the Unforgivables, which Frank himself was leery about using, which required especial desires to torture, control, or simply _kill_ someone; 'Snape Specials' were simply brutal in the effects that they usually visited on those that they were directed against; they were swords to wield, or maces to bludgeon with, rather than sleepy-effects which the magical equivalent of waving a handkerchief under the nose could revive an enemy from within moments.

Mr. Snape emerged from the inner chambers, into the coffee room where Frank and Alice were stationed. Mr. Snape had his wand out and an alert look on his face.

"Is there some Ministry surprise planned to test our readiness for tonight?" Mr. Snape enquired, a degree of controlled urgency in his voice.

"No." Alice frowned.

"Well we have visitors on the way. Probably three quarters of a minute out, at most. They've disabled the regular alarms and outermost security wards." Mr. Snape said. "I can only presume that one or more of the three of us are likely targets. Any last words on tactics or preferred epitaphs before they come through the door?"

* * *

Looking back on things, later, Frank would realise that he had never even _thought_ to question Mr. Snape on his assessment that trouble was incoming – which given the limited time to prepare had been just as well.

Later on, of course, it was no longer 'Mr. Snape' or 'Auror Longbottom' and 'Auror Longbottom' between them, but 'Severus', 'Frank', and 'Alice'. Being on the receiving end of one of the last and most desperate of 'big' Death Eater actions of the war, in a fight of three-against-dozens (the sole mercies being Lord Voldemort's own absence and that the close confines made it difficult for the 'dozens' to effectively bring more than four or five or six wands against the 'three' at any one time) will tend to strip away any need for formalities, and even make for friendships.

It was a fight in which Frank would ultimately lose an arm (fortunately not his wand one), Alice suffer a scar to her face and lose an eye, and Severus fight to practically the point of exhaustion, before the remaining Death Eaters broke as Ministry reinforcements, rallied by Peter Pettigrew (of all people) and Barty Crouch senior's own son, finally started to arrive. (Severus would modestly maintain his own lack of injuries was as much down to their enemies apparently being bent on trying to capture him alive and intact, as to anything else.)

It was a fight which would go down in the legends of the Ministry and of the auror service, which would see the capture of the notorious Lestrange brothers and of Lucius Malfoy (which latter would claim, steadfastly, that he had been acting under the effects of an Imperius Curse, the entire time) and which would prove to be Lord Voldemort's last big gamble of the war. Beyond it, nothing but decline and a gradually tailing off Death Eater offensive lay, culminating in Voldemort's 'I am for now beaten, but I am not defeated; some day I shall _return_ ' announcement of Easter, the following year. Voldemort had tried to seize the wizard whose spells had harassed, befuddled, and overwhelmed his forces so effectively, to destroy or turn to his own use. He had failed. It was the beginning of the end of the Wizarding War.

* * *

Author Notes:

This piece was originally part of an attempt to develop background as the 'setup' for another project, but took on sufficient life of its own to become a piece in its own right.

The point of departure here is that during the summer of 1976, in a last bid for parental attention before giving up and going full-blown Voldemort supporter, Barty Crouch junior 'recommends' to his father 'this really clever wizard I know, a year or two above me in Slytherin', and Barty Crouch senior actually pays attention to it. Barty Crouch senior subsequently investigates and becomes determined to snatch Severus out of Hogwarts as soon as possible and starts to give his own son enough attention/respect (probably involving him in further 'talent spotting', at least whilst Barty Crouch junior is still at Hogwarts) to maintain his loyalty/respect. And Severus Snape is at least as happy to get 'official' attention, recognition, and respect for himself and his talents from the Ministry in this universe, as he would be with any career in the Death Eaters, in the original canon universe.

I'm not sure if I've overdone (by canon standards) the 'Severus Snape as spell-creator' strand; it does seem to me, though, that if one side in a war is being constantly supplied with ever-improved (or outright new, which their enemies have never seen before, and have no initial knowledge how to counter) weapons, that sooner or later that stands a good chance of starting to swing things in their favour. And if things have already started to go their way to start off with... (The Harry Potter wikia entry on 'The First Wizarding War' of canon, at the time of writing of these notes in September, 2016, does strongly suggest to me that – between the defeat of the giants and the authorisation of the use of 'Unforgivable Curses' against Death Eaters – at one point in the late 1970's, the tide of the Wizarding War _was_ definitely going against the Death Eaters, whatever may or may not have happened later; said wikia entry may of course be subsequently revised on that or other points, but it's what I've gone with, here.)

As to what impact (if any) 'Severus Snape as spell-creator' may have had on canon; I suspect that in the original canon universe, Lord Voldemort didn't have much time to encourage underlings to develop spells/magic, unless they were for his own, _personal_ , use. He doesn't strike me as being one inclined to share/distribute anything which might resemble anything other than the merest morsels of power to his minions.

* * *

Moving on to more specific points:

If there was a 'born as the seventh month dies' prophecy in _this_ universe, Lord Voldemort never heard about it during the first Wizarding War, and the Potters (James having married Lily as in canon, and had Harry, as a son) were never particularly felt to be in any danger especially targeted against them so as to justify their going into hiding. James carried on fighting on the 'front-lines' of the Order of the Phoenix (Lily probably spent more time in a backroom, likely potion-brewer role, after having had a child) and duly expired in August, 1981.

Note that even though Frank and Alice Longbottom have withdrawn themselves from being part of the Order of the Phoenix, Frank and Alice are still full-time aurors and still fighting Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters (and are even still friends with some Order members) – it's just that Frank and Alice _really_ don't consider Order members as being the sort of people that you want to have to rely on to cover you in a fight, because of their refusal to use some spells.

Also note that although (as an auror) Frank is technically authorised to use 'Unforgivable Curses' he really doesn't _like_ using them, because of what they demand, emotionally, of casters, as part of their effective use. As a last resort Frank _might_ use an Unforgivable Curse, in the protection of the Wizarding public or an innocent, but it would leave him feeling distinctly 'dirty' in the aftermath to have done so. Given that a state of war exists between the Death Eaters and the Ministry (and Wizarding Britain in general) Frank has no qualms about at least severely injuring Death Eaters in the process of capturing (or otherwise driving off or neutralising) them – with magic a _lot_ of injuries can be (eventually) repaired/ameliorated, after all. Killing is a greyer area, since there _is_ some genuine at least occasional use (by the other side) of mind-controlled puppets.

As in canon, Peter Pettigrew, seeing Order of the Phoenix casualties mounting up, has decided in this universe to 'jump ship' and start sidling up to a different faction/side in the Wizarding War; it's just that in this universe he sees the Ministry as the 'most powerful' side/the side which is 'winning', so he's increasingly spending time hanging around with them (and he would spill absolutely _any_ Order of the Phoenix 'secret' to the Ministry, if he thought that doing so would ingratiate himself with the Ministry further).

I'm undecided what Remus Lupin is doing during the latter stages of the Wizarding War – possibly he's trying to spy on the werewolf community for Albus Dumbledore.

In this universe, Lord Voldemort notices that he and the Death Eaters have things going distinctly _against_ them by early 1981, and upon analysing the situation he decides that Severus Snape (and his creativity) is the main problem. Consequently, in a final effort to turn the war around, he makes the big effort to capture Severus Snape which falls in the latter stages of this piece. (Lord Voldemort himself may be off causing some sort of trouble/diversion elsewhere, explaining his own lack of personal participation in the actual attempt to seize Severus Snape.) Once the attempt to abduct Severus Snape fails, even Lord Voldemort can see that this war is effectively over/'lost' and so he eventually makes one last public appearance and 'grandiose' statement, before withdrawing from the country with a handful of his surviving most loyal Death Eaters, at Easter, in 1982.

It's irony on my part to have Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch junior be the ones to notice that something is wrong and to lead the 'cavalry charge' to rescue Frank and Alice Longbottom and Severus Snape. (That and to underline, in case that's necessary, that Peter and Barty junior really _aren't_ on the Death Eater side this time around, in this universe.)

Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin are all assumed to survive to the end of this particular version of the Wizarding War (as are Lily and Harry Potter, and also Barty Crouch junior, Frank and Alice Longbottom (although as indicated in this piece, Frank and Alice have ended up permanently physically injured), and Severus Snape).

This piece is currently a one-shot. I have sufficient other projects at present not to want to take it any further. At best some sort of revision/expansion to work more actual 'Frank & Alice' into it might be on the cards, but not (in September, 2016) at any point in the foreseeable future.


End file.
